Interviews form an essential part of the case study approach. The following extract is taken from an interview with a small school head teacher as part of a case study about small primary schools (pupil numbers fewer than 100) in which the role of the head teacher forms a significant part.
Read the following extract carefully
CONSTRUCT A SIMPLE REPRESENTATION (graph, series of pictures, web, etc) WHICH GIVE YOU INSIGHTS INTO THIS HEAD TEACHERS’ PROFILE.
Pay particular attention to one or more of the following issues:
(a) His promotions (biographical dimension)
(b) His satisfaction with the job (personal dimension)
(c) His motivation.(career dimension)
Note that the head had been in his job for one year and a term.
The interview questions are in brackets at the head of the section. Numbers alongside paragraphs are for ease of identification.
HISTORY
(Give me a summary of your career to date)
1). I trained as a secondary teacher initially but transferred to primary and middle schools as there were no jobs were available to me. I am now in my seventeenth year of teaching, eleven in Surrey in 2 First & Middle schools.
My first school was a deprived school, which was great fun; I worked there for 6 years.
My second school was middle class...kids suffered from middle class deprivation... all they wanted was to have time lavished on them... to be honest, I tried to get out of teaching from that school... I worked for a very difficult head who on the outside was very kind & helpful, but behind the scenes was devious... I was a scale 2, head of year 5; I applied for the scale 3 head of lower school... I applied for that and he appointed someone from outside... when he said to me the following day ‘we’d like you to tell her about how the job should be done’ and I said there won’t be any time, because I shan’t be here... this was before I’d even got another job... I even applied for a job in industry... didn’t get it, but it was toe in the water time... and coming to this LEA was a move to get away from the old LEA... I even tried to move sideways (to another scale 2... for science) but was told that I should go back into the classroom and attend some more courses.
2). I eventually got out and came to this LEA. I worked for certainly the best head I’ve ever come across... he was brilliant... Within 6 weeks of arriving I had an appraisal interview... which was quite a daunting prospect! ...We discussed a lot of things and he said ‘where do you go from here?’ and I said I didn’t know... He said that with all my experience I should be going onto the management ladder... I told him I didn’t feel confident enough and he said that ‘it’s crying out for people like you’... from the appraisal he put me onto a lengthy maths course for co-ordinators (to add to my PE and IT)... did a bit of organisation then got on the deputy head’s merry-go-round...
3). I went for one deputy’s job, one small headship... then eventually got the deputy head of a medium sized primary... where I worked for another excellent head... and after a while he said ‘why aren’t you moving on and applying for some heads’ jobs... so I did, and this is where I am.
(So in five years you moved from being ready to leave teaching, to being head at this school?)
4). Yes. I’ve had a number of duff heads with no INSET and no encouragement.
My first head gave me no career guidance at all... in fact he was counting down to the day when he retired... His replacement was a lady who didn’t like men! I ran four lunchtime clubs and four evening clubs and yet she would come into my class and say ‘this book hasn't been marked...why not?’ So we didn’t get on well together. I suffered from stress and had three months off school... eventually I got out of there and worked for a man who shouted and blustered and went red when any children were in the vicinity... He then retired and was replaced by a very pleasant guy... but I didn’t really agree with the things he was in to... He was in to learning by experience in a big way... I’m not against that but there was no structure to it...nor any ending.
5). With some heads, there was a philosophical divide... but changing LEA’s I came to work for this wonderful head who was very helpful to me.
6). I didn’t even think of applying for deputy headships or headships in my first authority... there was no encouragement... no one was asking me where I saw my next move... they were too busy feathering nests and building up empires... Coming to this LEA was like a breath of fresh air... It’s streets ahead in terms of staff development ... and there’s some really good people.
(So you got this job on your second headship application?)
7). That's right. It’s been a long and tortuous road in some respects... but an enjoyable road because I’ve spent a lot of time with children and that’s the thing that was most important to me... I could have spent years in my first LEA and not seen much of children but been out on courses... I actually enjoyed the games, the sports, the camaraderie that not only you got from children but from colleagues of like mind... and I thoroughly enjoyed that.
Now it’s a different camaraderie... but it’s still there... I can still link up with a variety of people... There was a time when if an adviser came into school I went other ways...I’d have been found elsewhere because I didn’t want anything to do with advisers... they just annoyed me... but now it doesn’t worry me... I’d even drink with an adviser...I don’t mind!
(Why this particular school?)
8). I was interested in schools of this kind (rather than this specific school)... what I felt was that I wanted the opportunity to have your own school but not lose contact with the children... I felt that was a good thing for me... It also meant that there wouldn’t be too many staff problems... for me, the problem in schools is the staff, the kids are OK... the staff can be the difficulty... That wasn’t particularly my strong point... and still isn’t... It’s the assertiveness thing... I try and please people because that’s the nature of the beast I am... but you can’t please people all the time... you try your best but sometimes things need to be done... though people don’t want to be doing them it has to be done... So I felt that coming here was a good opportunity to learn the trade.
9). In a larger school I’d have to consider more people... I don’t think I’d be an autocratic head in a large school but I’d have to consider more things... whereas here I consider my vision... where I see the school going... and all the decisions I make are channelled into that direction and I don’t have to worry too much about the other teachers... I know that what we are doing is right... the way the school seems to be going... the children are happy.
(Are you saying that self-fulfilment in terms of having a hand on the rudder and good relationships with the children... but not too many outward concerns and details... is what makes the job attractive?)
10). It’s knowing at the end that your school is yours... and you know what the perfect school is like in your eyes... where the children are kind to each other... they are pleasant to people coming into school... they work carefully... everything about the school is good... All heads have that vision but it’s very personal and difficult to put into words... you know when you’ve got there by Nirvana... you’re never going to get there... but your standards are high and they’re pitched high... so when the kids are up there you’re pleased.
(Has it been the job you expected it to be or have you made it the job you wanted it to be?)
11). It’s been harder than I thought it would be... The problems have been the admin side, though it runs itself to a certain extent... but the constraints of time... I’m probably a worse teacher because you don’t have time to prepare things or think things through... Days just disappear... there’s no time to sit down and talk things through... and that’s what I feel is lacking, the lack of thinking time... You’ve got your vision... you think you know where you’re going along... There are certain times when you sit there and you‘re doing nothing and you feel guilty... On an admin morning I’m sitting there and I’ve read something and I’m thinking about something and I feel guilty... And I shouldn’t... Because there’s a pile a papers you feel that you should be.
12). I get fulfilment out of running the place and getting it ticking... You get people coming into school from the community... and we go out there... I want people coming into the school and thinking ‘Coo, look at all this activity going on’... Just so there’s people about and it’s alive, it’s a living thing.
13). I’m not a leader... I’m somebody who thinks they know how to do a job well and works hard at it... and at the end of the day we’ve got a place that is a good place... I wouldn’t put myself in the leadership category... In fact I sometimes feel fairly insecure in the company of other heads.... the level of the discussion is above me... but then, they’ve had thinking time because they’re non-teaching heads... documentation, etc.
The big schools have got the time, energy and experience to put those things into operation...
(What have been the main sources of frustration?)
14). The demands on my time from a variety of directions... sharing the teaching load through team teaching is ideal... even so-called admin time is eaten up in meeting people, going into infant classes to assist with computing... organizing health-and-safety checks, etc.
15). I hanker after keeping in touch with children...but not having a class responsibility... which is the really hard bit... it would be nice to go in there and work alongside colleagues... but as soon as you start coming out of the classroom you’re into ‘absent landlords’ and on to a rocky road.
16). I do try to make sure I’m in schools at least four days a week... I always go to academic council meetings and core subject conferences and small schools’ cluster... though the clusters are beginning to splinter... Part of the trouble is that other small schools are so busy I can’t even get in touch with them!
17). Academic council is in terms of comradeship... with colleague heads a lot more experienced than me who say the sort of things I would like to say. The cluster group is for reassurance where we sit down and the first part of the meeting is for sounding out... documents, problems with governors, etc. Other heads are very supportive. It’s reassuring because we find that everyone else is suffering the same things... that’s the biggest thing... you really feel good after one of the meetings because you feel reassured that you’re not on your own... There might be times when you lose a bit of confidence, but then you go to a cluster meeting and find that someone else has got exactly the same problems.
(What would you like to be remembered for?)
18). When I leave the school I want people to think that the school is a better place for me having been there... I believe we have a happier group of children here than when I came.... Including some members of staff who believed that we needed sanctions to deal with the naughty children... I said "sanctions!" They’re just young children... let’s stress the positive... So we introduced the ‘good book’ to recognize those who had done well. Some staff were sceptical about whether it would work and thought maybe it was a bit twee... but gradually despite a certain amount of consumer resistance about whether it would work... it does work...
19). All I want parents to say is that they’re happy with what’s going on at our school... whenever we come somebody’s always there to see us... if we’ve got a problem it’s taken seriously... if we’ve got a point of view, we’re able to voice it... he doesn’t always agree with what we’re saying, but he listens, and might respond... so it’s that sort of thing.
20). I hear on the grapevine...people in the village say things are going well... maybe you’re too close to it sometimes to know the difference from where you’ve come to where you are now.
Others know what was there before...and what there is now
(And where do you see your next move?)
21). I know I’m not going to stay here...this isn’t my final school. My final school will be about 150 children, 5 or 6 staff, a mixture of young and more experienced staff, a mixture of children (not all from one group)...and in this LEA.
22). This was my ideal school even before I applied for headships... but those aren’t always available when you most desperately want them. So it's what comes up in the area, look at it subjectively...is it right for you? Is it in the academic council I wanted? I respect the local heads... so this school had that going for it. The school was in need of a change...the previous head had been here for a long time...needed new ideas...it wasn’t a show school...I wouldn’t have applied for one of those. Far better to make your mark on a school that needs something doing to it...rather than going to a school where the only way is down!
(Would you say that in one sense you are not career minded?)
23). It’s not got anything to do with next step is 150, then it’s 200, then it’s director of education... I see myself as being a head now.
24). Status isn’t important to me... If I’m asked what my job is, it’s always ‘a teacher’, never a head! People get to know... I’m proud of it inside. When I think of where I’ve come from... if I went back to my old schools, I think they’d say: ‘yea, he got on all right’. Yes, I feel good about it inside.
(Would you have any advice for the next head teacher?)
25). I’d say to the next head...’beware, it isn’t easy but it’s a great training ground’...cause you’re hands are on everything...on the teaching, the admin, the governors, the policies, whatever is required of your school, your hand is there. It has to be. I suppose that when I move on it will be difficult to let go of all that...but that’s the art of delegation. That will give me more thinking time which here I sadly wish I had more of. Here you can’t delegate because there’s no-one to delegate it to...you just put it in a different pile for another day.
26). You’ve really got to have blinkered vision when you’re in the school because there’s so many things required. One day this week...we had the vicar in, two men coming to measure windows, the policeman to do a talk about youth crime prevention, swimming in the afternoon, I had two children sick and we couldn’t contact parents...and we still had 24 children that need to be kept gainfully on task. So, yes, it’s hard work...and sometimes you chase your tail...and that day was a bad day. I should have just said: ‘there’s window people coming...to hell with it!’
(Do you think that only certain types of people should be applying for a small school headship?)
27). I think if you’re a very quiet person, this wouldn’t be the job for you. If you weren’t a particularly outgoing person, this would be desperate, because it’s extremely isolated because there’s no-one to talk to...if there’s just two teachers in the school, we don’t see each other because of duties...So there’s no banter...you have to make your own fun and games...you have to get on with the kids to do it. You’ve got to be up-front with the parents...outside to see them...if they come in, you’ve got to give them priority. It’s nice to get a bit of adult conversation as well. The more inward you are, the less this is the right school. You’ve got to be outgoing or you could go mad.
28). It’s probably the motivation for the job where you can actually sit down and chat to children. You’ve got to be serious with the children but you’ve got to have fun as well. The kids would probably say ‘he’s quite strict at times but they know that if they’re upset there’s someone to look after them; there’s someone to put an arm around them and say ‘come on, tell me what the trouble is’. Someone who’ll listen to what they’ve got to say.
There’s time for fun and there’s time for work; if they do something good, I’m the first to come and congratulate them in it...but if they’re capable of better and they give in, I don’t like that.
29). I’m pleased to be here...but I know it’s only a transit stop. I think I knew it when I came and I know it more clearly now.
END OF INTERVIEW
From the head teacher's responses, you should be able to gain some important insights into his philosophy, personal ambitions and vision for the school.
The interview illuminates a range of issues which can form the basis for further investigation:
• The significance of his career life history.
• The distinctiveness of small school headship.
• The way in which the 'person' of the head teacher and the school context are closely interwoven.
Case study is about the particular, but has the potential to inform other situations. At some point it may be possible to transfer the understanding gained from the above data into a different small school context and begin to establish criteria which are generalisable.